Thursday, September 20, 2012

I know you will like my friend Renee Ginn. She crafts. She cooks. She DIY's. She parents two adorable children and she's an army wife. She basically can do it all! She doesn't have a blog...yet! She has just started a new little venture called Wear It aGinn.

Renee is making adorable items, such as these preppy wristlets. How cute would these look attached to your key chain? I might never lose my keys at the bottom of my bag again! Wouldn't these make perfect teacher gifts?

For your favorite Republicans out there.

For all of my dog lovers, check out the dog collars.

How about a Jacquard Ribbon Belt? This is just a small sample of the collection.

Here's how you can win a wristlet of your very own:

You must be a follower of Saved by Suzy on Facebook or through Google Friend Connect to enter. Leave a comment for each and increase your chances of winning:

Thursday, September 13, 2012

My friend Mary and I are both nonprofit consultants who work from home. Mary is lucky enough to have an entire room dedicated to her very own home office. She's in the midst of an office overhaul and needs a little help in finding furniture and accessories.

Mary is probably the most meticulous, efficient and organized person I know. Unfortunately, her "before" office pictures don't reflect this.

She's started this project by emptying her office and getting rid of the old furniture. She's already painted her office this pretty turquoise color that looks beautiful with her new dark wood floors. Isn't this a huge improvement already?

Now, our job is to find furniture that will help Mary stay organized. Ikea has lots of great items for offices and their white furniture would pop against the blue. The price is also right!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

While I haven't had time yet to decorate for fall, I did have time to bake up a yummy fall treat...Apple Oatmeal Muffins. These are so good that Mary requested that I make these for her preschool birthday celebration instead of cupcakes.

Not only are these muffins delicious, but they make your house smell soooo good.

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Line a 12 cup muffin tin with papers.
2. To make the batter, in a medium size
mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and spices. Whisk
together until incorporated, set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer,
cream butter and sugar. Add egg, applesauce, and vanilla, mix on low until
combined. With mixer on low speed, alternate buttermilk and dry ingredients,
adding about ⅓ of each mixture at a time, until remaining ingredients are gone.
Remove bowl from stand and fold in apples. Scoop mixture in to prepared muffin
tin (fill just a tad bit over ¾ of the way).
4. To prepare the topping, in a
small mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix until clumps begin to form.
Sprinkle over each individual muffin. Place in oven and bake for 22-25 minutes,
or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. The muffins
should have a little spring to them and the topping should be golden brown and
crunchy.
5. Remove and let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire
rack to cool completely.Makes approximately 18 muffins.Adapted from Life {Made} Simple Apple Pie Muffins

I generally wouldn't add sprinkles to these muffins, but since they were for a four-year old's birthday, I guess that's OK!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

I'm back and I survived running the Ragnar Relay from Breckenridge to Snowmass/Aspen, Colorado! This was one of the most unique, fun, and crazy things I've ever done.

In case you've never heard of Ragner, it's a relay made up of teams of 12 runners (or six runners if you are truly insane). The teams trade-off running around the clock until they reach the finish. As you can imagine, there's not much (if any!) sleep.

Our race was 188-miles through some of the most beautiful, but STEEP, mountain country. The leaves were just starting to change and it was gorgeous! Most of my legs were on trails along streams and rivers - beautiful during the day, but creepy during the night. I don't know if I was more afraid of running into a bear or being attacked by a scary human. Luckily, I experienced neither one, just quiet, solo running in the dark.

My team was so much fun! Usually running is such a solo sport, but the relay adds in a teamwork aspect. I enjoyed cheering on and supporting our runners as well as the time we spent not running where we got to know each other better and talk about everything under the sun. It was also fun to chat with other teams along the course.

Our team name was "Soda Fast" (sorta fast, get it?)

This was at the starting line.

We had a six-pack of Diet Coke and a six-pack of Coke.

This is after we finished, thirty hours after we started. We don't look too bad for running 188 miles with NO sleep!

While we weren't the fastest runners, we weren't the slowest. Best of all we won the team spirit award for "Farout Fashion." I would much rather be spirited and fashionable than fast any day!

If you've ever thought about doing one of these relays, go for it! You will not regret it. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Go here to enter. The giveaway closes at midnight Tuesday and the winner will be announced on Wednesday. There aren't a ton of entries, so your chance of winning is pretty good. But, you have to enter to win!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

It's starting to feel a lot like Fall! Despite the hot days, the mornings and evenings are crisp and cool. I love this time of year. It's perfect running weather. Which is a good thing because by the time you read this, my running shoes will be packed and I'll be heading to Breckenridge to run the Ragnar Relay. Two hundrend miles of mountain running with 11 good friends. I can't wait!

Aren't these flowers pretty? The mother of one of Kayla's friends sent these to me as a "thank you" for driving her daughter to gymnastics. What a fun and unexpected surprise.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

I know I've posted about my sister Gina who lives in New York. She attended Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology and she is an amazing seamstress, crocheter, quilter, etc.

I haven't mentioned my other sibling, Mike, very much on the blog. I know that he does some sort of graphic design, but I recently visited his company's website and was blown away by the work they do. Their largest client is the Limited brands and they do everything from custom tile mosaics to store facades to wallpaper design. Mike works in wallpaper design and he recently developed a new wallpaper pattern that will be going into Bath & Body Works stores.

The company, Apropos Studio, is based in Minneapolis. I really had no idea what Mike and Apropos did until I visited the website.

They created the aged-looking ceiling tiles, polka dotted wallpaper and some other things for the Pink store in Soho.

Here's a window for Henri Bendel in NYC:

A display for BCBG:

Appropos just launched a new subsidiary called "Area Environments." Area produces artist-designed wallpapers. This is from their website:

Area's hand-picked, international rotation of artists produce unique collections that reach the core of relevant style and design, which in turn strengthens and enlivens the perception of your brand or project. From the hottest street artists to emerging fine artists and everything in between, Area's one-of-a-kind designs encompass and innovate the modern environment.

I thought I would share a few of my favorite wallpapers currently available at Area.

I'm excited to see the next group of artists. What do you think? Would you ever put this type of wallpaper in your home?

So I have a sister who was in fashion, a graphic designer brother, and I went to law school. Doesn't quite make sense that I'm the one who ended up with a design blog!

She has also recently started selling pillow covers and she is offering you a chance to win this beauty.

The pillow is a 12x22 lumbar size. It would look great on your bed, dressing up a chair, on your sofa, or pretty much anywhere!

Be sure to check out B&B on Etsy. Jessamie has other fabulous pillows for sale and I know she will be adding more! Saved by Suzy readers can get 10% off any pillow through next Wednesday September 12th by using the code Suzy10.

The Rules

There are lots of ways to enter. Just leave a separate comment for each of the following. The winner will be announced next Wednesday.

1} You must be a follower of Saved by Suzy either by clicking the "Join This Site" button on the sidebar or by liking Saved by Suzy on Facebook. (This one is mandatory!)